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Why YOU Should Use Twitter for Your Creative Business

Whenever the topic of Twitter comes up amongst Craft and Hobby industry professionals, the number one thing I hear is, “Oh, I don’t really use Twitter. I just don’t get it.” I completely understand this point of view. I once felt the exact same way. As a matter of fact, I created my first Twitter account back in January of 2011, used it for a week and then promptly abandoned it…for months. I didn’t think about it again until a friend and I were discussing the platform and my interest was renewed.

Fast forward to modern day and Twitter is my favorite platform. If you are still not sure, maybe understanding the benefits will help change your mind. I just want to state emphatically….if you have a creative business, Twitter is someplace you will want to be!

What is Twitter, anyway?

Twitter began, and still is, a microblogging platform. Yep…mirco because you only have 140 characters to make your point! At first it can be difficult, but over time it really helps you to be more thoughtful about your posting. I’ve come to appreciate that. What this means for you is that you have to get your message across in a meaningful, enticing way in as few words as possible.

How can Twitter help my crafty business?

Twitter is different from any other social network because users are looking for content to both consume and share. What it means for you is that users who come across your content, say a blog post of a craft tutorial, may very well click through to your website. That means traffic for you! It means that if they really like what they read, they are going to share that content with their audience, which means being exposed to more people.

How do you get Tweeple (that’s Twitter speak for People lol) to click through? It’s easy. SHARE GREAT CONTENT. Here are some examples of great content:

links to your blog posts*

links to articles or craft tutorials that you think are awesome*

links to information about how to run a craft business*

craft tips

quotes by artists

motivational quotes to inspire

humor

* Never just share a link by itself on Twitter. It will be seen as spam, so it may get ignored. Show your community you value their time by letting them know what content that link leads to.

Twitter is also a wonderful platform to build out your authority in your niche. It’s easy to demonstrate your knowledge and skill through short, powerful tweets. Be sure to hashtag keywords to make sure that those you are not connected to yet can find you.

Another great reason to harness the power of Twitter…

In a simple statement…..It’s easy to build a targeted, engaged community on this platform because you can actively follow people who are relative to your niche. Find like-minded users by doing a hashtag (#) search or use tools to help you. There are tons of tools to help you find targeted followers on Twitter. If you’d like to learn more about some of these cool tools, read 6 FREE Twitter Tools.

Have I piqued your interest at all? Let me know what you think in the comments or ask me a question. I’m happy to help!

You’re invited to join my FREE Facebook community: Socially Sensible Creatives. It’s a great place to meet other creative business owners and improve your social media knowledge and skill. Click the image to join us:

While I will always feel like Twitter makes my eyes twitch, I understand the value added for business. I am fortunate to have someone who does most of the postings for my business for me so that I don’t ever go cross-eyed 🙂

I’m with you, Theresa, on several points. I, too, had a Twitter account that I rarely did anything with. That’s all changed now, and I’m glad. I’ve found some great Tweeple there! And you’re absolutely right on the 140 characters. Certainly concentrates the mind — and the message — doesn’t it?

Excellent article. One thing that I didn’t see mentioned was the use on photos on Twitter. Images of crafts and hobby work go over well on Twitter and can also then be pinned to Pinterest directly FROM Twitter.

What a simple and straightforward article to help entrepreneurs in the creative fields get started with Twitter. I, too, love Twitter. I love the fast pace, the constant changing and the incredible variety of of tweets and topics that pass by every day. Great stuff!